Use 3. It is an invitation to the practice of holiness. Blessedness is a great motive ; David begins the book of Psalms with it, and Christ his sermons ; there is enough in it to allay the sorrows of the present life, and fill up the desires of the life to come. All would be blessed and happy, but we must take the right course ; say, as Christ's hearers, John vi. 34, ' Lord, evermore give us this bread ; ' as Balaam, Num. sxiii. 10, ' Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end
VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. 207
be like his.' Be not content, as Balaam, with a vision of Jacob's happy seats: Num. xxiv. 5, 'How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel ! ' As the nobleman that saw the plenty of Israel but did not eat thereof : 2 Kings vii. 20, * And so it fell out unto him, for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.' The damned at the last day are lookers-on, but not partakers of the blessedness of the righteous : Luke xiii. 28, ' There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.'
Use 4. Exhortation to those that have an interest in this blessed hope. Behave yourselves as those that are called thereunto ; think of it often, discourse of it often, and live suitably to it.
1. Often meditate of the happiness that is laid up for you, and warm yourselves with the thoughts of it. The mind ruminateth on happiness. Tour minds should be there : Col. iii. 2, ' Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth.'
2. Confer of it often : 1 Thes. iv. 18, ' Comfort one another with these words,' against all the changes and dangers of this life. Alas ! how carnal and flat is our discourse ! ' He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth,' John iii. 31.
3. Live more suitably to it : 1 Thes. ii. 11, 12, ' As you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.' Make eternity your scope : 2 Cor. iv. 18, * Looking not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen,' o-kottovvtoov rj/juoop. There should be a greater proportion between your hopes and your lives. Behave yourselves as those that are interested in this blessed hope. Be not dejected with every cross, nor overcome with every bait and temptation, nor live in a base and low manner ; this is not becoming your hopes. Show your interest herein by the heavenliness and courage of your spirits.
SEKMON XVL
And the glorious appearing, <&c. — Titus ii. 13.
In the encouragement to the duty of our heavenly calling we have the substance of our hopes, and the seasons when we shall come to enjoy them to the full.
1. The substance of our hopes, 'Looking for the blessed hope.'
2. The time when our enjoyment shall be full, when body and soul shall be glorified, that is, at the time of Christ's appearing, ' At the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' Every one would have the blessed hope, but first there is a glorious appearing.
^ In this second branch there is the person that must appear, and the kind or manner of his appearing.
208 SERMONS UPON TITUS II, 11-14. [SeR. XVI.
1. The person who must appear, Jesus Christ, described by a name of power, ' the great God/ and a name of mercy, ' and our Saviour ; ' as usually such kind of attributes are mingled in scripture, power and goodness.
2. The kind or manner of his appearing, it is glorious ; eiTL^avecav Tr}? 8o|^7/9 Tov jjieyaXou ©eoOjthe appearance of the glory of the great Grod. The apostle opposed the second coming of Christ to the first ; then it was an humble mean appearance, now it is full of glory. But what is meant by this glorious appearing? Some dream of his personal reign before his coming to judgment, hut that is a fancy. The scrip- ture only acknowledgeth two comings of Christ : Heb. ix. 28, * He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.' There is only his first and his second appearing. After he had once offered himself, and ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God, there is no more corporal presence of Christ upon earth. But will there not be at least a glimpse ? Will he not come in the clouds for a while to convert the Jews, and set things to rights in the world ? Will he not appear for a very little while, and so vanish again as he appeared to Paul at his conversion. Acts ix. 3. So some think, and therefore dis- tinguish between his appearing and his coming, but -without warrant from scripture ; for these two, appearing and coming, are all one ; and the expressions are promiscuously used in scripture : Col. iii. 4, ' When Christ, who is our life shall appear ; ' 1 John iii. 2, ' When he shall appear we shall be like him.' So that this appearing is his coming to judgment; this is that we must look for. And therefore the point I shall first observe is this —